International Women’s Day: A Day of Gratitude

By Candace Allison, Recruiting Manger & Leader of the TMA Women’s Initiative

I’ve come to realize that no matter what the “theme” is for International Women’s Day (IWD) each year, it’s really going to mean something drastically different for each person that celebrates it. The 2019 IWD campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter and the official meaning behind it is to build a gender-balanced world, which is essential for economies and communities to thrive.

However, you could also personally interpret #BalanceforBetter to mean that women should strive for, and celebrate, balance in their own lives, which is something I think we (as women) tend to struggle with. Being a woman comes with immense pressure to be a lot of other things: nurturer, mentor, caregiver, innovator, team player… the list goes on. This IWD, no matter what your personal goals are (and perhaps balance is one of them), I urge us all to open our hearts to gratitude.

As an agency, we’ve made “attitudes of gratitude” a priority for 2019. And, while the topic of gratitude has always been near and dear to the TMA Women’s Initiative, this month we’re doubling down on our efforts to celebrate and show appreciation to the fantastic women that work at The Marketing Arm.

In my experience, it’s seemingly difficult for powerful, highly-successful women to accept the limelight and acknowledge their own accomplishments. The women I know who work their butts off, share their expertise, lead teams, and go home to take care of their families are not people that seek compliments and praise. They want to truly do the best they can for themselves and to better the lives of the people around them. But with the amount of effort they put in each and every day, these ladies are superheroes, they just don’t realize it! These women deserve to be recognized, and I hope through our events and programming during the month of March, the TMA Women’s Initiative is able to accomplish just that.

This IWD, each of our TMA Women’s Initiative chapters across all TMA offices will host celebrations to unite our women and their allies. Through a poster series displayed at each of these events, we will showcase the agency’s empowering female leadership. A version of this content will also be shared on our social channels on IWD and throughout the month in order to showcase inspiring women leaders (in all senses of that word) and tell their stories.

Here’s a quick highlight of IWD activities going on today in a few of our offices…

• Dallas is throwing a happy hour that will offer employees the chance to hand-make thank you cards for the important women in their lives.
• LA is hosting a brunch and drive for a local women’s shelter.
• Chicago and New York are partnering with their local Omniwomen chapters to do things such as take part in a women-focused speaker series and support women-owned businesses.

In addition to our events, the TMA Women’s Initiative will also launch a gratitude program through March, which allows employees to congratulate and recognize the women and allies that they work with – no matter what office they’re located in.

Our celebration of IWD is merely a small piece of how the TMA Women’s Initiative supports women at The Marketing Arm. The mission of this Initiative is to provide support to women of TMA in every chapter of life. We accomplish this through four core values: community, career development, caregiving, and wellness.

These core values manifest themselves through events and programs that continue throughout the year. Within the community space, we host events that bring people together – whether that’s through a trip to a local museum or happy hour, the goal is to ensure women get to know each other. How else can we begin to support each other if we don’t start there?

Within the career development space, we have developed the YOUniversity Program, which allows employees to apply to go to various women-focused career conferences throughout the year. We also host panel discussions and meetups to tackle different professional challenges. The caregiving core value is all about supporting and uniting those who care for others – especially our TMA moms, but also single parents and other types of caregivers.

Finally, within the wellness space we focus on promoting mental, physical, emotional, and financial health – which translates into events like meditation and yoga sessions, investment seminars, and meetups to address the management of stress and anxiety.

The TMA Women’s Initiative team is very excited to build upon these programs in 2019 and continue the momentum of IWD throughout the year as we continuously acknowledge, celebrate, and congratulate the incredibly talented, passionate, and hard-working women at our agency.

No matter where you are, we invite you to join us in doing the same.